Chem Lab Love
by that is secret
Summary: Kairi/Momo, set in chemistry lab!


A/N: Ooo, never written a Peach Girl fic before. . . Kairi + Momo forever! *kills off Toji* ^_^  
  
//thoughts//  
  
  
  
Momo knocked on the chemistry lab door. At last. . . she could be away from Kairi. She wouldn't have to look at him and feel so shaken.  
  
The teacher, Mr. Okamoto, glanced up. "Come in, Adachi! Here to make up that lab you missed?"  
  
"Yes sir," Momo replied.  
  
"Good. There's another student making it up also. You can work with him."  
  
Momo looked over to the end of the room. Kairi gave her a grin and waved. Momo barely suppressed a groan.  
  
"Thank you, Okamoto-san," she said to the teacher. She walked away, muttering, "This will be fun. . ."  
  
"Hi Momo!" Kairi said. He tossed her an apron and safety goggles. "Ready to play with fire?"  
  
//Don't you mean be set on fire from the sight of you, pumpkin?//  
  
She put on the apron. "You look even goofier than usual in those glasses."  
  
"Well, so do you, so let's get done as quickly as possible, alright?" He struck a match and lit the Bunsen burner. She shuddered at the sight of the flame. Ever since that one cooking "experiment", she didn't like fire.  
  
"Kairi, when did you learn to light that thing properly?" //Without making an explosion?//  
  
"I failed chem last year, remember?" He looked up at her and smiled. "I'm an expert at these things now!"  
  
"Oh." She'd forgotten that. Momo watched as he gestured too enthusiastically and caught his sleeve on fire. He calmly walked over the sink and stuck his arm underneath the water. //Well, at least he *lit* it right. . .//  
  
"Happens all the time," he told her. She just nodded, feeling a little weak.  
  
Kairi began placing tools and sundry bottles of chemicals on the tabletop. "Do you have a penny?" he asked. "I forgot to bring one."  
  
Momo dug in her pockets and pulled one out. "Yes. . . why?"  
  
Kairi sighed. "Because we're doing that thing where you change pennies into gold, except it's not really gold but some weird thing instead."  
  
"Oh." She'd forgotten that too.  
  
Kairi took the penny, and instead of turning away, studied her. "Are you okay, Momo?"  
  
"I'm fine!" //Just a bit distracted.// Seemingly satisfied, Kairi turned towards the burner, and Momo snuck a peek at him out of the corner of her eye. //And you'd be surprised to know why.//  
  
Her eyes then widened, and she was staring. Kairi had turned the burner on low, and was amusing himself by passing his hand through the flame.  
  
"Kairi!" Momo yelped. "What are you doing?!"  
  
"What? I'm just playing around."  
  
"You're going to hurt yourself, you - you - pumpkin!"  
  
"And you care?" Momo saw a strange look pass over his face for a second. She decided not to answer that.  
  
"I can see why you failed chem. . ." she said under her breath.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Never mind. Here, give me the penny."  
  
"No."  
  
Momo was slightly taken aback. "And why not?"  
  
He grinned at her. "Not until you put your hand through the fire!"  
  
It was Momo's turn to say, "What?!"  
  
"We're not doing anything until you put your hand through the fire. So there." He crossed his arms. "Come on, it's on really low. All the air port- holes are closed and everything. If the flame's yellow like that, it's not going to hurt to put your hand in it."  
  
"Kairi. . ."  
  
"What, are you scared?"  
  
A second passed. Then Momo smacked Kairi over the head. "Of course, baka!"  
  
Kairi rubbed the quick-forming bump on his temple. "You don't trust me?"  
  
Momo wished she could teleport to. . . well. . . somewhere else. Anywhere else. //Why did he have to ask something like that? Every time we talk about anything along those linest, one of us ends up hurt somehow or another.//  
  
"You don't, do you?" The strange look was on his face again. "Then again, who does? I don't deserve it. . ." He was now speaking to himself.  
  
//Kairi!// Momo's stomach lurched. She hadn't heard him sound so down in a long time. //Damn you. This better not be a ploy. You know I hate fire.//  
  
"I'll do it." This time, her stomach lurched at the thought of putting her hand in that glowing flame. She squared her shoulders and held out her hand. It came near the burner. . . and then the warmth from the flame hit it and she snatched it back.  
  
"It's so hot. . ." she said, staring at the burner.  
  
"Here." Kairi took her wrist. Momo, surprised, looked up at him. He didn't meet her eyes, but took her spot as the burner-starer. His hand covered over the back of her palm, and his fingers laced through hers. It felt good; warm and comforting and. . .  
  
He glanced over, and seemed as surprised by her face as she was by his hand. "Hey, if you're too wimpy to do it by yourself. . ."  
  
//Damn you for breaking the moment, she thought. And I was hoping you'd say something nice and romantic.  
  
Shut up, Momo.//  
  
She hit him on the other temple with her free arm. "Pumpkin."  
  
Kairi just moved their hands closer to the flame. "Ready?"  
  
Momo gulped. "Er. . . ah. . . oh hell, yes."  
  
He pulled their hands through the flame. Momo tensed when she felt the heat singe her palm a bit, and then the cool air hit her hand.  
  
"Not so bad was it?"  
  
She shook her head. //No, not at all. I guess the quiche incident was just that. . . a one-time incident. . .//  
  
They paused for a moment. Suddenly, Kairi removed his hand from hers and turned back to the lab.  
  
"Anyways, now we get to use the hot plate and caustic chemicals. Uh, don't touch either of those. . ."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The rest of the lab went uneventfully. Well, relatively uneventfully. Kairi assured Momo that the two sleeves on fire, the one spilled caustic chemical, and the overturned hot plate was better than he normally did. At least the lab turned out the way it was supposed to.  
  
They didn't touch at all, except for once when Momo gave Kairi the penny while they were working on the write-up. Kairi felt a jolt of electricity run through his hand and up into his heart.  
  
//Why'd you touch her at all, Kairi? Why? You got over her.  
  
You got *over* her.//  
  
A little voice in the back of his head answered, //Liar, liar, sleeve on fire.// He growled.  
  
"Kairi? Did you just growl?"  
  
"No, of course not. . ."  
  
He fell silent again. It was hard to think about the lab write-up with her around, because her prescence made it impossible for him to think about anything else. Anything but her tanned skin and light hair. . . her big beautiful eyes. . . the way she looked when she got out of the pool, wet. . .  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
He started to say yes, but then changed his mind. "No."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
He leaned back in his chair, thankful that Okamoto had left the room and wouldn't say anything about "all four chair legs on the ground at all times."  
  
"Can't tell you."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Just can't." //Oh, it's nothing Momo, I've just been madly in love with you for. . . for. . . for a really long time, and you'd never feel the same way, and oh hell am I screwed.  
  
Shut up, Kairi.//  
  
The teacher re-entered the room. "You two can go now," he said. "Give me the write-ups tomorrow."  
  
Momo got up. "Aren't you coming?" she asked when he didn't move.  
  
"Er. . . in a moment." He watched her as she left. Then he picked up his books and went to leave by way of the window.  
  
"Okayasu!" The teacher's voice broke through the air. //Damn, you forgot he was there. You really are a baka.//  
  
Kairi walked over, head bowed. "Yes, Okamoto-san?"  
  
"First off, do not even dare to think about leaving through the windows." Kairi nodded. "Second off, just go after the girl."  
  
His head snapped up. "What?" Embarassed, he added on, "sir?"  
  
"You're obvious. You like her, go after her. It's quite simple, you know."  
  
"Sir. . ."  
  
"Do it."  
  
"Yes sir. . . Good-bye, sir." He left. As soon as he was out of Okamoto's sightline, he slumped against the wall.  
  
//Well, at least you can say you did it on a teacher's orders. . . like she would believe that. You're just pumpkin to her, nothing more. Just stupid old Kairi.//  
  
The object of his affection's voice broke into his mental wanderings. "Kairi, come on, it's getting late." He looked up to see her standing in front of him. She extended a hand to help him up. Kairi let her pull him to his feet. The moment he was standing, he threw his arms around her and held her close.  
  
Kairi was more than a little surprised when, instead of pulling away, she put her arms around his waist.  
  
She turned her head up so she could see his face. "Kai-"  
  
She didn't get the chance to finish her sentence, because his lips were on hers. He tried to make the kiss as gentle, as chaste, as possible. . . //a makeup for the one I stole from her.//  
  
His surprise increased when she kissed him back, flicking her tongue between his lips and opening his mouth quite effectively.  
  
//Why the *hell* didn't you try this earlier?//  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Neither Kairi nor Momo saw the chemistry teacher in his lab, watching them and nearly dancing for joy.  
  
He'd been trying to fix them up for quite a while. If it took a couple burned sleeves and a little prodding, it was still worth it.  
  
The self-appointed school matchmaker grinned and turned back towards the pile of paperwork on his desk.  
  
Now, if only he was as successful in getting his students to turn in those damned lab write-ups. . .  
  
  
  
A/N: No, I don't know if Kairi failed chemistry, or if either of them are taking it, and I sure don't know what their school's chem teacher would be named! I got the name out of a National Geographic article on Kyoto. . . ;- )  
  
Well, I think that was pretty sucky. My writing seems to have taken a turn for the *coughcoughhackdie* Review and tell me how sucky YOU thought it was. ^_^ 


End file.
